


Like a Teatray in the Sky

by ishie



Category: Alice (2009)
Genre: 100-1000 Words, 2010, F/M, Ficlet, One Shot, request
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-20
Updated: 2010-01-20
Packaged: 2017-10-06 12:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ishie/pseuds/ishie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wonderland wasn't always so bad. When Hatter was a kid, it was downright pleasant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like a Teatray in the Sky

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Irrel](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Irrel).



> Written for Irrel, who wanted Hatterfic, in thanks for her donation to the sheldon_penny Help Haiti fundraiser.
> 
> Title of course is from "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat"

Jack's a lucky guy, in more ways than one. Might not have turned out all that great for him in the middle there but he started out all right. Turned out even better. It's almost too bad he's got such a long, steep road ahead.

Wonderland wasn't always so bad. When Hatter was a kid, it was downright pleasant - not so long ago, that, though it's hard to tell by the shape of things now.

His granddad would tell stories about Alice of Legend, even though _his_ father hadn't even been born when she came. Still, it didn't stop him going on about how her hair shone in the midday sun. How her pinafore was always as white as newly poured sugar. The prettiness of her manners, the sweet bell of her voice. How she stood up to the Red Queen and shook the foundation of the ancient and most noble House of Cards. The way the light started going out of the world after she'd gone.

When his granddad died, he'd stood next to his mom and watched as she knocked back draught after draught of oyster juice. Wasn't long after that Hatter struck out on his own. He got into some trouble, got out of more, and made a friend here and there.

Well, maybe 'friend' isn't quite the right word. In the end, though, he learned to watch out for himself, picked up a couple of tricks, and turned all of that into a dilapidated little tea shop tucked in the shadow of what used to be a finishing school for Diamonds, before they went to work in the casino.

And, bam, years later and here he is - booming business, secrets enough to trade, and the first glimmer of hope in years.

It helps that her dress really is just _dripping_ wet, and nary a pinafore in sight.

Frankly, Hatter always thought Alice of Legend sounded like a downright bore.

**Author's Note:**

> Started: 20 January 2010  
> Finished: 20 January 2010


End file.
